Qualcomm Joins the Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK) Steering Committee

Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK) was originally conceived as a cross-platform open-source project by Microsoft to provide common XR functionality to developers. You may have heard the announcement that MRTK has been moved to its own independent organization on GitHub headed by a steering committee. We’re excited to announce that Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., along with other ecosystem players, is joining this committee.

October 4, 2023

As leaders in the XR space with solutions like our Snapdragon Spaces™ XR Developer Platform, we look forward to shaping the future of MRTK to keep it alive and thriving, while expanding on its ecosystem. Snapdragon Spaces helps developers build immersive XR experiences for lightweight headworn displays powered by Android smartphones. Key features of Snapdragon Spaces include Positional Tracking, Local Anchors, Plane Detection, and more. This year we announced an extended support across XR spectrum, along with Dual Render Fusion feature designed to help developers transform their 2D mobile applications into spatial 3D experiences.

We have a vested interest in MRTK as it can be integrated into projects built with our Snapdragon Spaces SDK for Unity. MRTK is largely a UI and interaction toolkit while Snapdragon Spaces provides device enablement and support. In the following diagram, Snapdragon Spaces sits at the same layer as Unity’s XRI Toolkit and provides access to device functionality (e.g., subsystems) that MRTK can build upon.

There is a strong community around MRTK that spans hobbyists to enterprise, which enables rapid development, consistent UI, and cross-platform deployment.
As part of this, we’re also excited to announce some of the original architects and project team members from the MRTK project have joined the Snapdragon Spaces team. Their knowledge and expertise in the XR domain is sure to help drive advancements in both MRTK and Snapdragon Spaces.

Pictured: Kurtis Eveleigh, Nick Klingensmith, Caleb Landguth, Isa Cantarero, Ramesh Chandrasekhar, Dave Kline, Brian Vogelsang, Steve Lukas

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is excited to be a part of MRTK’s steering committee and acquiring the new team members. Recently, the steering committee released GA on September 6, 2023. Going forward, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. will continue to contribute code and functionality so that all stakeholders may benefit. We aim to ensure that the architecture maintains its cross-platform vision and promise, while providing best-in-class support for Snapdragon processors and Snapdragon Spaces.

For more information, check our documentation and our MRTK3 Setup Guide which shows how to integrate MRTK3 into a Unity project.

Snapdragon branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.